Jane Krakowski Biography

American actress (born 1968)

Jane Krakowski (/krəˈkaʊski/; née:Krajkowski; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series 30 Rock (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Krakowski's other notable television roles have included Elaine V*al in the Fox legal comedy-drama series Ally McBeal (1997–2002) and Jacqueline White in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020). For the latter, she received another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination.

A trained singer, Krakowski has made numerous appearances on stage. At age 18, she originated the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the Broadway production of Starlight Express (1987). She has since won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the revival of Nine (2003). Other Tony-nominated roles include in Grand Hotel (1989) and She Loves Me (2016). She received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the West End revival of Guys and Dolls (2005).

Early life

Krakowski was born and raised in Parsippany, New Jersey, the daughter of Ed Krajkowski, a chemical engineer, and Barbara (née:Benoit), a college theater instructor and producing artistic director for the Women's Theater Company. She has an older brother. Krakowski's father's family is Polish, and while she speaks very little Polish, her father and grandparents are fluent.

Krakowski grew up immersed in the local theater scene as a result of her parents' involvement, saying in one interview: "Instead of hiring baby sitters, they brought me along with them." She took ballet lessons at age four, but later stopped because she had the wrong body shape, instead moving more towards Broadway dancing. She attended Parsippany High School and then the Professional Children's School in New York City and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Career

Krakowski at the 2007 Red Dress Collection for The Heart Truth

Following a 1981 television commercial for the video game Solar Fox, Krakowski's first major role and feature film debut came at the age of 14, when she played Cousin Vicki Johnson in the 1983 road comedy National Lampoon's Vacation. Krakowski was originally cast in the 1983 horror film Sleepaway Camp, but dropped out just before filming began because she felt her character's death scene with a curling iron was too violent. In 1984, she began appearing as Theresa Rebecca "T.R." Kendall in the NBC soap opera Search for Tomorrow, part of the NBC Daytime programming block; she continued the role until the show ended in 1986 and was nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards in 1986 and 1987. She also appeared in several episodes of the soap opera Another World in 1989.

At age 18, Krakowski originated the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the 1987 Broadway production of Starlight Express. She appeared in the 1989 Broadway musical Grand Hotel as the typist and would-be film star Flaemmchen, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Her solo number, "I Want to Go to Hollywood," is included on the original cast recording. In 1995, she played the ditzy flight attendant April in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Company, followed by a starring role alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in the 1996 Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress.

From 1997 to 2002, Krakowski played office *istant Elaine V*al in the Fox comedy-drama series Ally McBeal; she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1999. She also appeared in the music video for The Chicks's song "Goodbye Earl" in 2000, and a recurring role on the drama series Everwood in 2003.

At the 2000 American Comedy Awards, Krakowski won rave reviews when she performed a sexually charged musical tribute and love letter to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. The following year, Krakowski appeared on the album Broadway Cares: Home for the Holidays, singing the song "Santa Baby". She also collaborated with Jim Brickman on the song "You" for Brickman's 2002 album Love Songs & Lullabies; the song became a hit on adult contemporary radio stations. Brickman and Krakowski later recorded a Christmas-themed alternate version of the song.

Krakowski signing autographs after a performance of Guys and Dolls

In 2003, she starred as Carla in the Broadway revival of Nine, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Krakowski's performance was noted for a "breathtaking" aerial stunt she performed during the number "A Call from the Vatican". In 2005, Krakowski performed her own cabaret show, Better When It's Banned, at Lincoln Center, and starred as Miss Adelaide in Michael Grandage's West End revival of Guys and Dolls at London's Piccadilly Theatre, for which she received the 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Between 2007 and 2009, Krakowski performed in a workshop production of the musical Xanadu; a New York City Center production of Damn Yankees alongside Sean Hayes and Cheyenne Jackson; and a staged reading at Playwrights Horizons of the musical Mrs. Sharp.

From 2006 to 2013, Krakowski played the role of Jenna Maroney, a clueless and narcissistic actress, on the Tina Fey-created NBC comedy series 30 Rock. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013. Following 30 Rock's conclusion, Krakowski joined the cast of Fey's follow-up series, the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in the role of the condescending socialite Jacqueline White. Schmidt ran from 2015-2019 and gave Krakowski her fifth Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Krakowski starred as Ilona Ritter in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 2016 Broadway revival of Jerry Bock's and Sheldon Harnick's She Loves Me. For her performance, Krakowski won the 2016 Fred and Adele Astaire Award as Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show; the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical; and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. She was also nominated for the Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Musical.

Since 2021, Krakowski has hosted a Fox reboot of the 1950s gameshow Name That Tune, with former American Idol judge Randy Jackson as bandleader. Krakowski has said, "One of the reasons I wanted to do Name That Tune was to perform again in front of a live audience." She is also a cast member of the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! starring Cecily Strong.

Personal life

Krakowski became engaged to Robert Godley in 2009. They have a son, born in April 2011. The couple separated in 2013.

In January 2021, the Daily Mail alleged that Krakowski had a nine-month relationship with Mike Lindell, the inventor of My Pillow, between late 2019 and the summer of 2020. Both Krakowski and Lindell denied the allegation, and Lindell sued the Daily Mail for libel. The case was dismissed on the grounds that a "reasonable person" would not view anything in the Daily Mail article as defamatory.

In November 2021, Krakowski contracted a breakthrough case of COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from NBC's Annie Live! where she was to play Lily St. Regis.

Filmography

Film performances

Television performances

Music video performances

Stage performances

Discography

Krakowski released her debut solo album on July 15, 2010. It is an album of cover versions called Laziest Gal in Town. It released on DRG Records.

Selected recordings include:

• 1992: Grand Hotel, Studio Cast Recording (mostly original Broadway cast)
• 1995: Company, Broadway revival cast recording
• 1997: Once Upon a Mattress, Broadway revival cast recording
• 1997: Sondheim at the Movies (singing the Academy Award-winning song "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy)
• 1998: The Burt Bacharach Album
• 2002: A Broadway Valentine
• 2003: Nine, Broadway revival cast recording
• 2004: A Christmas Carol, television cast recording
• 2010: The Laziest Gal in Town, solo album
• 2016: She Loves Me, Broadway revival cast recording

Awards and nominations

Film and television

Theater

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jane Krakowski.

• Jane Krakowski at IMDb
• Jane Krakowski at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jane Krakowski at Playbill Vault
• Jane Krakowski at AllMovie